Coyle surprised by McDonald snub

17 September 2010 14:00
Bolton manager Owen Coyle believes Kevin MacDonald can consider himself very unfortunate not to have been given the Aston Villa job on a permanent basis. MacDonald has been in caretaker charge since Martin O'Neill's dramatic resignation on the eve of the Barclays Premier League season but two wins in four league games were not enough to convince the board to appoint him. Instead, the job was given to former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier but outstanding commitments with the French Football Federation mean he will not officially take over until after the clash with Bolton at Villa Park. Villa's first game since the appointment of the Frenchman ended in a 2-1 defeat by Stoke on Monday night but Coyle does not expect the upheaval at Villa Park to make his team's task any easier. He said: "There's no easy time to go to Aston Villa, and Kevin MacDonald I think has done a terrific job. "I was a little bit surprised, I thought he may have been offered the job permanently because of how well he's done and the stature and the esteem the players hold him in. We're under no illusions how difficult the game will be. They have some terrific players. I watched them on Monday and they were a little bit unfortunate not to win. We're going to have to be at our very best."

Source: PA